Tannith Cattermole

It's good to see a national gas company taking the lead in renewable energy. British Gas in the UK has announced a new pilot scheme with Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks to build a plant that will clean biomethane gas harvested from human waste and inject it back into the grid for use in kitchens and heating. Read More

Consider the humble camping stove. It requires fuel - perhaps some unwieldy bottle that air carriers object strongly to. Maybe it needs batteries to run a fan, or billows out smoke so you smell like smoked sweatshirt for the rest of the trip. The solution might be the BioLite stove - it's a collapsible wood-burning cook stove that uses almost any forest-found fuel and converts its own heat energy into electricity to achieve efficient combustion with ultra-low emissions. Read More

They say money can't buy you happiness, but if your money is spent on 'experiential purchases' and not consumer goods, then perhaps it can. Research from Cornell University has found that spending money on material goods only brings short term happiness, while experiences provide greater satisfaction long term. Read More

Ever wanted to feel like you live on the moon? Or imagined your house at the bottom of the sea? The Winscape application from Rational Craft will turn two plasma TVs into virtual windows and give you a realistic interactive view of Earth from space, an underwater aquarium, or simply footage of the Golden Gate Bridge as you move around the room. Read More

While the idea of using photovoltaic technology in windows to harvest sunlight for conversion to energy is not new, Smart Energy Glass (SEG) is taking a slightly different approach with a solar window that can be darkened or lightened for comfort and convenience. Read More

If you're looking for an easy way to make your contribution to saving the planet, then it could be as simple as switching your font to 'Century Gothic'. University of Wisconsin - Green Bay (UWGB) has rolled out the change this semester, saying it uses 30% less ink than its default font Arial when printed. Read More

Putting aside ugly flying cars, no one should fail to be moved by the gorgeous warm-colored wood, hammered copper trims and time-worn patina of this gorgeous piece of antiquity. One of the last known Curtiss MF Seagull Flying Boats is to be sold at auction on Tuesday April 13 at Bonhams in New York. Rich in history, this beautiful vintage sea plane was designed and created by engineer and aviator Glenn H. Curtiss, otherwise known as "the Father of Naval Aviation." Read More

Putting aside jet packs, the other science fiction dream to perpetually elude us is the flying car. Gizmag is littered with stories on flying car inventions and yet my Toyota Camry is mournfully clipped, fused to the road while my dreams of zooming to work in the 21st century remain unrealized. But this is not a story about a new-fangled invention, this is a story about the pioneering forerunner to these zippy young upstarts; the ancient grandfather of flying automobiles, Frank Skroback's Flying Car, which recently went to auction in Atlanta, Georgia. Read More

A cardboard record player created as a mail promotion has become a chart-topping success for Vancouver-based sound design company GGRP. The six inch record in a corrugated cardboard mailer sleeve folds into a make-shift, human-powered player which, when turned using a pencil, transmits vibrations through the needle and amplifies via cardboard corrugations. Read More

Scientists have begun integrating electronics into biology, but don't bolt your doors in fear of cyborgs and hybrid human-robots yet! Researchers from the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona IMB-CNM (CSIC), have found a way to implant minute silicon chips into living cells and use them as intracellular sensors. This bio-nanotechnological advancement could tell us a lot about how our cells are working at a nano level, and have widespread implications for early detection of diseases, and new cellular repair mechanisms. Read More